One New Man

Through his Death and Resurrection, Jesus founded one new covenant community, One New Man, to whom we are united by faith – Ephesians 2:11-22.

The Apostle Paul is uncompromising. Considering what Jesus accomplished on the Cross, no longer can there be divisions between Jews and Gentiles in the community of faith. “You all are one in Christ Jesus.” By his sacrificial death, Christ “dismantled the wall of partition” that kept Jews and Gentiles apart, so “he might reconcile them both in one body for God through the Cross.”

God is building Jewish and Gentile disciples of the Nazarene into one habitation of God “in the Spirit,” having nullified the “law of the commandments in ordinances” that previously divided them. He is “creating in himself One New Man” – (Ephesians 2:11-22).

[Lighthouse - Photo by Sam Goodgame on Unsplash]

Previously, Gentiles were alienated from the citizenship of Israel, “strangers from the covenants of promise,” and without hope in the world. Nevertheless, those who once were “far-off, become near by the blood of Christ,” and members of God’s single covenant community.

Jewish and Gentile believers access the same Father through the “one Spirit” they all receive. Having believed the “word of the truth,” they have been “sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise” and thus made full members of the Assembly of God - (Ephesians 1:13, 2:18-22).

The implications are profound. The Apostle’s argument demonstrates that Gentile followers of Jesus participate fully in the Abrahamic Covenant. Circumcised or not, they are heirs to the same promises regardless of their ethnicity or nationality. They become “fellow citizens and members of the household of God <…> having been constructed together to become the dwelling place of God in Spirit.”

Similarly, to the congregations of Galatia, Paul wrote:

• “But now that the faith has come, we are no longer under a custodian, for you are all sons of God, through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ did put on Christ. There can be neither Jew nor Greek. There can be neither bond nor free. There can be no male and female; for all are one in Christ Jesus. And if you are of Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, heirs according to promise” - (Galatians 3:25-29).

• “But now do you also put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, railing, shameful speaking out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that you have put off the old man with his doings, and have put on the new man, that is being renewed unto knowledge after the image of him who created him, where there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, freeman; but Christ is all, and in all” - (Colossians 3:8-11).

We are not under the custodianship of the Mosaic Legislation any longer, including its ordinances of circumcision, dietary regulations, and the observance of holy days. Whether Jew or Gentile, we constitute the one covenant community through one baptism, one Spirit, one God, and “the faith of Christ Jesus.”

• “There is one body, and one Spirit, even as also you were called in one hope of your calling. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in all” - (Ephesians 4:4-6).

• “But now, apart from the law, a righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God through the faith of Jesus Christ to all those who believe, for there is no distinction. <…> We account, therefore, that a man is justified from faith apart from the works of the law. Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yea, of Gentiles also, if so be that God is one, and he will justify the circumcision by faith, and the uncircumcision through faith” – (Romans 3:21-22, 3:28-30).

Justification before God and participation in his Church are not dependent on gender, nationality, or biological descent. Repentance, faith in Jesus, baptism, and the Gift of the Spirit determine our status as heirs of Abraham and members of the Body of Christ.

THE SEED OF ABRAHAM

Gentile believers are “grafted into the root,” and that “root” is Abraham. The “wild branches,” the Gentiles, are grafted into the covenant by the Spirit of God and our faith in what God has done through the Death and Resurrection of His Son. Unbelieving Jews, though they are the “natural branches,” descendants of Abraham by blood who possess the Torah, nevertheless, are cut off from the covenant if they continue in their “unbelief” and rejection of the Messiah of Israel - (Romans 11:11-24).

When God confirmed His covenant with Abraham, He promised to make the Patriarch “the father of a multitude of nations.” The nations or Gentiles were always included in the promises. Yahweh promised to “establish my covenant between me and you, and your seed after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant.” This raises the question: Who is the Seed of Abraham? – (Genesis 17:1-8).

Paul answers this question. The seed of Abraham is Jesus of Nazareth; therefore, the group known as “the children of Abraham” includes everyone who has exercised faith in Christ.

• “Know, therefore, that those who are from faith, the same are sons of Abraham. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles from faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, In you will all the nations be blessed. So then they that are from faith are blessed with the faithful Abraham” - (Galatians 3:7-9. Citation from Genesis 12:3).

• “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us. For it is written, Cursed is every one that hangs on a tree; that upon the Gentiles might come the blessing of Abraham in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith” - (Galatians 3:13-14. Citation from Deuteronomy 21:23).

• “Now to Abraham were the promises spoken, and to his seed. He says not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to your seed, which is Christ” - (Galatians 3:16. Citing Genesis 12:7).

The promises of the Abrahamic Covenant always included the Gentiles, “the nations.” The formation of Israel from the loins of Abraham was an initial stage in God’s plan to redeem humanity, not its final goal.

From Mount Sinai, God summoned Israel to become a priestly kingdom that reflects His light to the nations. “All the earth” is His, not just the nation of Israel or the small territory of Canaan – (Exodus 19:5).

In his first epistle, the Apostle Peter applies this passage from the Book of Exodus to the congregations of “Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,” which included many Gentile members:

• “But you yourselves are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, that you may show forth the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, who were not a people, but now are the people of God; who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy” – (1 Peter 2:5-10. Citations from Exodus 19:5-6, Hosea 1:9-10, 2:23).

• “Unto him who loves us and liberated us from our sins by his blood, and he made us a kingdom, priests for his God and Father, to him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever” – (Revelation 1:5-6).

• “You are worthy to take the book, and to open its seals!  For you were slain, and you purchased for God with your blood men from every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation, and you made them a kingdom and priests for our God. And they are reigning upon the earth” – (Revelation 5:9-10).

The mission given to Israel at Mount Sinai now belongs to the Church, the Body of Christ, which consists of men and women who have been “sealed by the Holy Spirit.” Membership in this community is based on “the faith of Jesus,” and our repentance and faith in response to what God has done through him.

God did not abandon His promises to Abraham. He is fulfilling the covenant in His Son and through His Spirit. He is making salvation available to all men for the asking, and on the same basis for all, “the faith of Jesus Christ.” Therefore, in Christ Jesus, there is only one People of God, One New Man.

[Note: Text printed in small capital letters represents quotations of or verbal allusions to the Hebrew Scriptures]

[PDF Copy]

SEE ALSO:

• The Heirs of the Covenant - (The faith of uncircumcised Abraham provides an example for Jewish and Gentile believers who live from the faith of Jesus – Romans 4:11-17)

• The Blessing of Abraham - (The Gift of the Spirit is one of God’s Covenant promises and ways of blessing the nations through Abraham’s Seed)

• Ekklésia - The Assembly of God - (The use of the English term ‘church’ or ‘ekklésia’ is derived from the “assembly of Yahweh” gathered for worship in the Hebrew Bible)

• Um Novo Homemd - (Através de sua morte e Ressurreição, Jesus fundou uma nova comunidade de Aliança, um novo homem, a quem estamos unidos pela fé – Efésios 2:11-22)